Last night I had a rather bizarre dream wherein I was at some kind of event, wherein I was “attacked” by a mother and son of gigantic proportions. I hesitate to call them full-fledged giants, but that’s what I suppose they really were. Their intent was not to harm me though. It was something like a wrestling match, or some other kind of ritual fight. Still scary though, and quite a struggle. After the initial barrage, it was mostly the mother that I was tangling with. I think maybe she slipped or something, and I seized the opportunity to pin her on her back. Of course, she was several times larger than me, and immensely stronger. I realized immediately I couldn’t just hold her down by physical force, or by my weight alone. So I went to this place of deep concentration, wherein my mind emptied, and I focused on this sort of energy that was swirling through me. I became completely still & serene, my hands pressing her shoulders flat against the earth. After a few moments of her struggling and smoldering in rage beneath me, she was unable to overturn me, and the ‘match’ was ruled in my favor.

Afterwards, we sprang to our feet, and she gave me a great big bear hug. She was genuinely pleased that I had bested her. Somebody later told me that she weighed in at 741 pounds. That’s a lotta woman. But she was no regular woman. Even in the dream I knew she was some kind of archetypal/magical thing. She was old too. Did I mention that? Stringy grey hair. Crazed look in her eye. I mean, since she was this giant, she had like some kind of primitiveness about her. Some kind of ‘Wild Woman of the Woods’ sort of thing. There was definitely some kind of “earth” connection there, as well as that “bear” hug connecting her to bears.

The whole thing vaguely reminds me of a few different things. One is Sir Gawain & the Green Knight. At least that’s one of the things brought to the surface from the dream. Although how the two are connected, now that I look at the whole Green Knight thing again, doesn’t sort itself out right away.

The other one that it particularly reminds me of is the story of Heracles (Hercules to the layman) wrestling the giant named Antaeus. Here’s a quick synopsis of the whole thing:

Antaeus was the son of Gaia and Poseidon. He was a frightful giant who compelled all strangers to wrestle with him and defeated or killed them all. He was invincible for as long as he remained in contact with his mother (the Earth) for she supplied him with strength. Heracles discovered his secret and lifted Antaeus from the ground and strangled him. The battle with Heracles is depicted on many Greek vases and even on coins.

The last one I just thought of is Beorn from the Hobbit. He is this big burly guy who lives in the woods, who comes from this race of people who changed into Bears in battle. He helps out with this big battle by turning into a bear and killing a bunch of Goblins.